The Earthquakes haven’t been losing games lately but they haven’t been winning them either. That changed on Saturday in Seattle when the Quakes, coming off four straight ties, defeated the Sounders 1-0.
It also ended an eleven game winless streak for San Jose.
“It’s a big joy because we deserved the victory considering the quality of the opponent,” said San Jose head coach Matias Almeyda after the game. “Whenever we played this team, we were always routed. I think we played a really smart game and fortunately we got the win.”
Cristian Espinoza was the hero for the Quakes. He scored of a feed from Florian Jungwirth just before halftime. Espinoza ran into the teeth of Seattle’s defense and fired a long low shot past Sounders keeper Stefan Cleveland.
On the defensive side, San Jose goalie JT Marcinkowski made three important saves to keep the home team off the scoreboard.
After the game Marchinkowski credited team massage therapist Curtis Hisao with his improved form.
“I was thinking too much in the future, too much in the past. In the last five or six games, just trying to be more present,” Marcinkowski said. “It’s something that I work on consistently with Curtis [Hisao]. He’s our massage guy but he’s a lot more than that to me. He’s a really good friend of mine. Him and I work on trying to be more present and breathe; just be in the moment.”
With the victory over the Western Conference leaders, San Jose now finds themselves only 4 points back from a playoff spot. The Earthquakes will look to build on the positive result with another three points on Wednesday in Portland.
“All eyes are on Portland. They’re going to be another tough team,” added Marcinkowski. “I can’t remember the last time we won away there. So, going to try and do it again and prepare and take this same mentality that we had today into Portland Wednesday night.”
